New Job at Vertigo Software

May 2, 2005

I accepted a position at Vertigo Software today.

Vertigo Software logo

You may know Vertigo from one or more of the following:

I'm tremendously excited to join such a high-profile group of software developers, and I can't wait to start. I don't actually arrive at work until Thursday, May 26, because it takes time to deal with the move from NC to CA:

map of driving route from NC to CA

I've mentioned Vertigo in a few of my blog posts before, Managed Code Performance and Weeding out the Weak Developers with J2EE. In the latter study, the three developers on the .NET team were all from Vertigo.

Posted by Jeff Atwood
27 Comments

Looks top notch; congrats!

David Grant on May 2, 2005 3:05 AM

Wow. Congrats! I hate to see you leave Raleigh but this sounds like a great opportunity. Hope you're able to stay active blogging!

Josh Carlisle

Josh Carlisle on May 2, 2005 3:35 AM

Congrats!! From the little I know about Vertigo, they're a top-notch firm. Hope you keep blogging as actively as you do now... great posts and on my must-read list.

Will you be keeping your VB-bent, or will you (shhh!) be doing more C#?

Leigh Kendall on May 2, 2005 3:43 AM

Thanks guys. I do plan to keep blogging. I only mention this life-related event because A) it's strongly work related and B) a number of my friends read the blog and it's easier to let them know all at once.

And Leigh, yes, C# was a concern of theirs. Although I may have to switch to C# in the short term, over the long term I will subversively convert as many Vertigo developers as possible to the case-insensitive glory that is VB.NET ;) I mean, come on, we have the Ain't keyword. They can't compete with that!

To be fair, most of the Vertigo guys/gals come from a C++ background, so it's natural that they would adopt C#.

Jeff Atwood on May 2, 2005 3:52 AM

Congrats Jeff.

Chris Wallace on May 2, 2005 4:09 AM

Congratulations and all the best on the new position.
It's quite a big move - literally ;)

Drazen Dotlic on May 2, 2005 4:15 AM

Congratulations mate! Good to hear you're going to keep blogging. Hope you switch to C# permanently heh ;-)

Mun on May 2, 2005 4:26 AM

Although I may have to switch to C# in the short term...

Well, California does begin with C... ;-)

Do you use any code-assitants today like VisualAssist of CodeRush?

Leigh Kendall on May 2, 2005 4:45 AM

Congratulations, it couldn't happen to a nicer or more deserving individual. Vertigo should consider themselves very fortunate to have you. Best of wishes!!

Scott Schecter on May 2, 2005 5:12 AM

Congratulations Jeff. They're lucky to be bringing in such a talented and experienced developer such as yourself. I'm sure you'll continue to grow and excel even further with this new opportunity. It must be a tremendous effort moving the family across America like that. Good luck with everything!

Brian Swiger on May 2, 2005 5:53 AM

Awesome news Jeff! If you need a stop along the route (aka. Denver) let me know - you have a place to stay!

Geoff Dalgas on May 2, 2005 6:23 AM

Hey congrats Jeff! I think everybody should pack up and move coast to coast at least once in their lives. We'll miss you in these parts! Keep in touch.

Rob Zelt on May 2, 2005 7:22 AM

Welcome to the Bay Area ... and nows the time to change your Blog to "Housing Horror" or "Traffic Horror"

- Adwat

Adwait Ullal on May 2, 2005 7:44 AM

Congratulations on the move and the new job!

Ugh, those guys were responsible for the Pet shop code and IBuySpy? Well I can't talk. I've written some pretty crappy code in my time. :) The Quake2 port was impressive.

Scott on May 3, 2005 2:25 AM

Again, thanks for the kind comments, everyone!

Scott: I haven't looked closely at those two, but you're not the only person to dis Pet Shop:

http://weblogs.asp.net/fbouma/archive/2005/03/31/396447.aspx

FWIW, I did relay this criticism to Scott Stanfield when I met with him.

Jeff Atwood on May 3, 2005 2:38 AM

A little late here, but congratulations! Hope you find the new job and the new location fun and stimulating.

mike on May 3, 2005 4:19 AM

Well done! I look forward to the Coding Horror managed version of Doom 3 :)

Tristank on May 3, 2005 4:53 AM

Hey, we're thrilled about Jeff coming on board! Ask him to blog how I woke him up at 6:30am to go get breakfast.

No comments on the VB.NET vs. C#. I can't reveal my personal preference;

Oh, and the Petshop comments? Urg, I guess I need to start my own blog to answer a few questions.

Scott Stanfield, CEO
Vertigo Software, Inc.

Scott Stanfield on May 3, 2005 7:07 AM

hehehehe, I wouldn't worry too much about the Pet shop comments. At least my comment. I understand that sometimes the fastest code isn't always the prettiest or the most maintainable code. And I understand that code that has shipped is infinitely better than pretty code sitting on a developers hard drive. It was just unfortunate that the .NET framework didn't allow both pretty and fast code to be written in the Pet shop case. Although there may have been other restrictions that we, the general opinion-having public, aren't aware of.

Scott on May 3, 2005 8:51 AM

Congratulations!

Darrell on May 3, 2005 9:52 AM

No comments on the VB.NET vs. C#. I can't reveal my personal preference;

Hint: He wrote several C++ books in a past life. ;)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1571691278/

Jeff Atwood on May 3, 2005 11:07 AM

Scott, not to beat a dead horse, but we are in the midst of crafting Petshop 4 for Whidbey. And it's not easy balancing performance with elegance. We try, but frankly, there are several hard choices to make in the middle-tier.

We've been trying to get a PS4 blog off the ground. It would be a good forum to elicit feedback; maybe this is something Jeff can do when he gets here?

I love this blog.

Scott Stanfield on May 4, 2005 12:47 PM

Congrats Jeff!
vb.net or c# a man has to do what he has to do...

Abraham Mathew on May 5, 2005 4:18 AM

Jon: LOL. I'll make sure your shipment of Shi Tzus and Shurikens arrives on time!

Also, did you realize it's May? You and Scott S. appear to have the same bloggering schedule..

Jeff Atwood on May 6, 2005 3:20 AM

Congratulations, Jeff. I hope to see your influence in the next round of public apps Vertigo releases.

And, as someone who refers to East Coast/West Coast as Least Coast/Best Coast, I'm extremely jealous.

Shannon J Hager on February 6, 2010 9:30 PM

Congrats! Welcome to California!

And yes, you should get Scott set with this whole newfangled webbloggering thing.

Also, the Buy buttons on the Pet Shop seem to be broken. At least my stuff never arrived. The spy stuff neither. Maybe you can fix all that stuff, too.

Jon Galloway on February 6, 2010 9:30 PM

Ouch. Touche. Well, I'd planned on a blogging frenzy this weekend, but assured it. I will overwhelm the interwebs.

Jon Galloway on February 6, 2010 9:30 PM

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